Christmas 2018

We had a sweet time with Daddy and Marilyn at Faith Baptist Church for their Christmas Eve services.

This was us at Bellevue's singing Christmas Tree

Thanksgiving 2018

It felt so odd to not have Austin at home for Thanksgiving.  We sure missed his loud self.  

We had to include him in our picture of "our kids"

I sure am Grateful for Dwayne

my sweet girls.

the big boys were at Aunt Libby and Uncle Herbie's house, but Dallas was there "cheesing".

Daddy and Marilyn

Daddy with his girls.

Uncle Porgy with his girls, too.

Janice & Porgy

Dwayne with his momma and sister.

Dwayne with his momma, sister and cousin Gloria. 

Rhonda and Sarah doing their signature Barbara Thorne move.

It is always fun to get out Granny's table cloths and table runners and momma's pumpkins and also pilgrims and indians.  

we had some great food. 

and sweet desserts

Sugar, Sugar, oh, Honey, Honey!!!

Went to Visit Austin at Grad School in DC

So I got into College Park, Maryland.

This is the view out Austin's bedroom sliding glass door.

so sweet to see him.  He is always so excited.

of course he had Clinton paper dolls on his desk!!!

he shares an office with 4 other grad students. 

this is his desk

he cracks me up!!!  Grad students are poor.

we walked all over DC and saw the white house and other monuments. 

they were decorating the national Christmas tree.

we saw a wedding in the park.

we were TIRED!!!

I thought this was neat.

this is looking out the window of Austin's classroom.

this is where he learns more about how to draw. 

he has my theatre.

his apartment.

token picture of the white house. 

we ate yummy mac and cheese from a vendor at the Smithsonian Institute. 

Riding the Metro subway.  He was very good at it.  

one of the drawings he worked on while I was there.  

the Metro!!!

Elmo at the Smithsonian.

Grandmomma's brass bed. 

the sitting area in his apartment.  

he was working on an Alice in Wonderland project for school  It was sweet to see him working.  He did surprisingly well with water colors.  

I am sorry these are not in any kind of order, but I am tired and this is how they uploaded.  

Servants Heart Quartet - "After Awhile"

I love singing with these silly boys!!!  Click the link below to hear SHQ singing "After Awhile".

"After Awhile"

Orange Beach - October 2018

It was just me and Dwayne this time.  Bro. Tommy Vinson told us during our pre-marital counseling that we should take time each year just for us.  One day our kids would be grown and moved on and WE would be all we have left.  We have always tried to do just that, even if it was just a weekend in Jackson.  It is a sweet time to just reconnect.

We stopped to eat at Cracker Barrel because we are OLD and a gentleman came to the table to borrow the ketchup.  He startled me.  He said, I am so sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you,  I said "it's ok, I thought you were Santa Claus".  He said "I am!!!!!"

He must be, he even had a business card.  It said he was Santa's Best Friend.

There was a red flag and 69 degrees out.  I had taken shorts and t-shirts and sundresses.  Funny, the same 69 degrees at home meant boots and sweaters....soooooo, we made a quick trip to walmart for some long sleeve tshirts.

Dwayne's favorite restaurant down there is Bubba's Seafood.  He gets mahi mahi

I get grilled shrimp.  They have a yummy dipping sauce and the tartar sauce is good too.  I don't like their cocktail sauce.  

we sat on the beach in sweats.

what can I say, I didn't need any sunscreen this day. 

it was CHILLY!!!

when it is too cold on the beach, get in the hot tub and look out at the beach.

He got jambalaya and smoked sausage at ACME Oyster House.

I got a fish po boy.

We dressed like Ole Miss and they even had a bye week.  Oh well, it was a Saturday in SEC country.  

We saw these pink clouds driving around.  It was beautiful. 

We tried the Ruby Slipper for breakfast.  I could have done without the potatoes.  They were just OK, but I  had plenty without them.  That was Pig Candy Bacon.....yum!

Dwayne had a chorizzo omlette

sunrise was so pretty, it was really cloudy so we didn't actually see the sun peak out this day, but it was still a pretty pink.

Something about footprints in the sand reminds me of the old poem.

I love the little seagulls.

he's got napping down to an art. 

they do too.

I guess pay back. 

view from our room. 

We like the Shrimp Basket.  The new potatoes are 731 calories.  We could not figure out why, but that little cup was FULL of butter.

These were the best coconut shrimp and I love the shrimp slaw.  It is so yummy!

a Tiny shrimp from the slaw.

see below!!!

finally warm enough to get my toes in the sand. 

we went for a walk and saw this chunky little pelican (I think).  I wasn't sure if she was laying eggs or had gotten ahold of some bad fish, but she looked like she did not feel so hot.  We did see her get up and walk a little bit.

We had just walked 2 miles up the beach.  It seemed like such a good idea at the time, but we are paying for it in our calves today, plus you have to walk back!!

we finally got a little bit of sun.

Dwayne took this picture of the sunset.  It was beautiful

This is a terrible selfie, and it is a mirror image because the photo flipped, but it was the best we had just as the sun was setting.  

this is not a great picture AT ALL!!!! We definitely had the wind blown look.  Dwayne said he had televangelist hair!!!! But  if you look in the upper corner, you can see the blue angels flying over!!  We did not hear until they were right overhead.  

yep, just a little sun.

We were in Phoenix 3 - 3045.  It was very nice.  We especially loved the view.....until next time.